Familiar

Chapter Nine

"I told you, you don't have to be mean to him," I said quietly, as I looked down at Dane on the sidewalk. Dane was silent this time, but if a fox could seem unhappy, he was. Rolling my eyes, I strode into my building. I walked through the first entryway, distracted, trying to rummage through my purse to find the proximity-key fob. Pressing it against the door, the door buzzed, signaling that it was unlocked, and would relock itself when the buzzer ended. Striding through, I separated the different rings on my keychain until I got to the one for the apartment.

Ascending the stairs, I almost tripped over him. A blur of orange wound its way around my legs, I almost squealed before remembering there was still a security guard by the front door. Holding onto the rail for support, I snuck a quick glance at the doorman who was only peering outside, looking incredibly bored. His night might be a lot more exciting if he suddenly glanced at the stairs. I thought this as I glared down at Dane, who stared up at me and blinked once.

Obviously, I couldn't talk to him out here. Sighing but quickly resigning myself to what seemed like the only option. Hurrying up the stairs, silently praying not to run into anyone, I unlocked the door, and opened it an inch, trying to glimpse the living room to see if Tanya was home. Hearing the shower running, I felt relief run through me, and Dane shoved his nose through, pushing the door open, and trotted quietly straight to my bedroom. I shook my head, this was weird. Bruises were one thing, but how am I supposed to explain to my roommate that there is a fox in our apartment?

Locking the door behind me, I stopped in the kitchen, depositing my leftovers into the fridge. By the time I made it to my bedroom, Dane had made himself comfortable. He rested on the top of my comforter, his paws lazily hanging over the edge.

"Sure, make yourself at home," I muttered as I quickly closed the door. "What are you doing here?" I whispered. Dane just looked at me, silent. "Well, now I feel crazy because you're not talking." He just blinked at me, and rested his hands between his paws, looking like he was used to living in an apartment. The water turned off in the bathroom. I heard knocking at my door, swiveling around from where I stood at my desk, I watched as Dane jumped from my bed lightly and crawled under my bed; gratefully hidden.

"One second," I called out and hoped that Dane wouldn't move or make noise.

"What's up?" I asked, trying not to seem as panicked as I felt. Tanya cocked an eyebrow at me. Obviously, my pretending skills were lacking.

"You never told me how your date with Ryan went?" Tanya grinned while asking at a much louder volume than seemed necessary.

"Oh, it was great. Amazing, actually." This time the smile on my face was genuine.

"Tell me everything," Tanya exclaimed and entered my room, bouncing unceremoniously down on my bed. "I only have a few minutes since I'm supposed to meet some people for a party." She quickly gestured down to her flashy clothes. "But tell me everything that happened."

Normally, I love when Tanya wants to gossip. And in the past, that means it's usually her telling me about her life. When you don't have many friends, you tend not to have many exciting stories. But things had changed now, and I was happy about it. But at just this moment, hiding a magic fox under my bed, with her inches away from him, I really didn't know how to be excited.

"Why don't you go out, and then I can take the time to tell you everything later?" Hiding things is not my strong suit, trying not to glance down at the bed made me only look at it more frequently.

"Is something - oh my god," She yelled, jumped up, and then lowered her voice to a whisper. "Is he in here?" Her gaze drifted to the closet. Not good.

"No, no. Don't be silly, he's not here. He dropped me off after our dinner, he had work tomorrow." My voice calmed as I explained. Tanya laughed.